“Update the homepage and reservation system accordingly as well. Make the necessary information public, just like the other guides. However, when it comes to Jin’s reservations, I’d prefer if Simon handled them personally.”

 

“Yes, President.”

 

Ivan had always been strongly opposed to bringing underage guides into Moribelle.

 

Even during his parents’ management, the policy had been similar. 

 

As a result, except for one guide at Branch 7, Area 2—who would become an adult this year—there were no underage guides across any of the branches.

 

And then Jin appeared.

 

Moreover, he looked far younger than his actual age, so Ivan felt an immense sense of responsibility—as an adult and as the representative of Moribelle.

 

The fact that Ivan himself was only a twenty-something rookie wasn’t particularly important in this context.

 

At the very least, until Jin recovered enough to look his real age and appeared healthy, Ivan wanted him to forget about guiding or anything like that and simply rest, play, and eat comfortably.

 

However, if Jin strongly wanted it, then—following Charlotte and Simon’s opinion—gradually creating opportunities for him didn’t seem like a bad idea.

 

After all, he couldn’t keep preventing someone from doing what they truly wanted to do.

 

After Simon and Charlotte left and Ivan was alone, he still wasn’t fully convinced about letting Jin do guiding, but he decided to trust the judgment of the other two.

 

Deciding on Jin’s first guiding partner took Ivan, Simon, and Charlotte several days of serious discussion and careful deliberation.

 

Jin showed great enthusiasm and proactivity toward experiencing real guiding as a guide, which actually made them even more cautious. 

 

Since Jin herself wanted to do it, there was no one—at least within Moribelle—who would outright oppose her.

 

From that point on, the three of them became extremely busy.

 

They gathered opinions from Moribelle’s affiliated guides and selected Esper clients among the loyal customers who were known for good manners and a gentle, kind personality.

 

Since male espers generally tended to have larger builds, they once again filtered the list—focusing primarily on female espers—to prepare in case Jin might feel scared or intimidated.

 

After that, they separately classified the young espers who had not yet become adults. 

 

This was because Jin might feel burdened by adults.

 

“President. Odyssey keeps… contacting us nonstop.”

 

Simon didn’t even try to hide the expression of being utterly sick and tired.

 

“There’s an esper the same age as Jin, right?”

 

“Yes. Their awakening periods are similar to… Ah, Jin’s exact awakening time isn’t confirmed yet. We only recently ran the test. Anyway, that young esper desperately wants to receive guiding from Jin. He is the only nephew of the Odyssey guild master.”

 

Simon shivered as he recalled Theodyn, the guild master of Odyssey, who called every single day.

 

“Director. I’m not saying this just because Ruern is my nephew… No, you really don’t need to worry about that at all! Danger? The kid has the personality of an angel. This is our Odyssey! Have our espers ever caused any trouble at Moribelle?”

 

“…”

 

“Never~ We’ll thoroughly educate him before sending him… Come on, you already know this. Why are you being like this? Please reconsider positively just one more time… Is the guiding fee too low? If so, I’ll show more sincerity and—”

 

Simon groaned that even when he was sitting still, he could still hear the Odyssey guild master’s voice ringing in his ears.

 

Since Simon was not the type to complain no matter how tough things got, the fact that he was this fed up meant Theodyn had truly contacted him to the point of exhaustion.

 

Moreover, the guiding fee he offered—clearly intended as a bribe—was so astronomically high that it couldn’t even be compared to other guilds.

 

Of course, even that enormous sum wasn’t particularly burdensome considering Odyssey’s financial power. 

 

Most guilds were so wealthy that they made large corporations look modest in comparison.

 

“I don’t like solving things with money.”

 

When Ivan’s brows furrowed, Simon nodded as if it were obvious.

 

After all, Moribelle was not a company that could be swayed or controlled with money.

 

Guiding houses, which began appearing one by one back when the exploitation of guides was completely natural, have amassed enormous wealth up to the present day.

 

Owners who had tasted the sweet flavor of money constantly pondered how to squeeze even more guiding out of the guides. 

 

In that environment, situations where only the espers were greatly satisfied continued for a long time.

 

As the number of precious guides losing their lives due to overwork and shock from exploitation gradually increased, more people began to realize the seriousness of the situation.

 

Around that time, Moribelle was the first to advocate for the human rights of guides and led the transformation of society.

 

Of course, it was not easy.

 

It was impossible to suddenly treat guides—who had been worked like slaves—as if they were gods overnight.

 

However, now that they had safely passed through that period of great chaos, the world had become completely different.

 

Whether corporations or espers, anyone who treated guides the way they had in the past would not only be regarded as human trash but would also lose recognition as a member of society.

 

Although those who were eliminated flowed into Area 4 and continued the same trash behavior as before, that place was anyway, a gutter that did not receive the spotlight of society.

 

Therefore, thoroughly verifying the espers who came to Moribelle to receive guiding was an extremely important task. 

 

If they showed even the slightest attitude of disrespect toward guides, it was safe to assume their relationship with Moribelle would end that very day.

 

“What about the reputation of that esper named Ruern?”

 

“They say many people had high expectations for his future ever since the mandatory Esper education period. Well, the biggest topic of conversation was… his appearance. He’s extremely handsome.”

 

At those words, Charlotte nodded her head very vigorously.

 

It’s the way of the world—being handsome already gets you halfway there. Indeed, absolutely.

 

Odyssey was one of the top 3 major guilds among the 42 existing guilds. Most of its affiliated espers were high-grade, and it was famous for the skill of its members, so it was a guild that SAA prioritized for cooperation proposals every time a gate opened.

 

“I think it’ll be fine, President. I’m not saying this just because I’m the one teaching her, but our Jin is really smart and capable. No matter what situation she encounters, she’ll handle it very well.”

 

Charlotte, who already had “our Jin” rolling off her tongue naturally, chimed in as Jin’s personal tutor when Ivan and Simon still couldn’t seem to make up their minds.

 

“Even if it’s guiding, until Jin becomes an adult, it’s only going to be at the level of holding hands anyway. That Esper kid probably doesn’t have much occasion to use his abilities heavily yet either, so his condition shouldn’t be too bad.”

 

Charlotte glanced sideways at Simon and glared at him as if telling him to back her up.

 

Nevertheless, Simon stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

 

‘Anyone who saw this would think Jin was her daughter. What’s with her?’

 

Muttering quietly to herself, Charlotte continued.

 

“There’s no study more important for a guide than experience, right? If he starts by dealing with an adult from the very beginning, the moment something doesn’t go according to his will during guiding, he might get flustered or discouraged. But with that young esper, Jin can experience guiding where he holds the initiative.”

 

“There is no esper who can take the initiative away from an SS-class guide, Charlotte.”

 

At Ivan’s words, Charlotte burst into loud laughter.

 

Where in the world is there a guide who’s perfectly skilled from the start? 

 

Everyone grows by going through all sorts of trial and error, slowly getting the hang of it.

 

Charlotte realized that Ivan, no less than Simon, was steadily turning into an overprotective guardian.

 

After finishing his deliberation, Ivan raised his head.

 

“Let’s go with that esper, Simon.”

 

At last, Jin’s first guiding partner had been decided.

 

🦋

 

“I heard the little kid was going to do guiding, so I got curious and came to see.”

 

“You’re a little kid yourself.”

 

Jin finally faced Ruern—the first esper to visit his guiding room.

 

Because the other boy was quite a bit taller than him, Jin couldn’t help feeling a sense of being overpowered, but that didn’t mean he was willing to quietly accept being called “little kid.”

 

Even though the other party had an appearance that didn’t match the word “little kid” at all, Jin still didn’t want to look easy or weak.

 

Of course, Jin had no idea that leading up to today, Ivan, Simon, and Charlotte had held countless meetings and gone through intense negotiations with Odyssey.

 

He was simply so excessively nervous about meeting his very first guiding partner that his palms were drenched and slick with sweat.

 

The guiding room, enclosed by a transparent protective barrier, felt overwhelmingly spacious to the small and young Jin.

 

Each guiding room was a dedicated workspace assigned individually to every guide. 

 

They were kept under strict hygiene standards, and the walls were specially constructed so that even if an esper went into a rampage and caused an unexpected accident, the area outside the room would remain completely safe.

 

Additionally, five ultra-high-definition CCTV cameras were installed in every corner to eliminate any blind spots.

 

If a guide didn’t want to be recorded, they could turn off the power at their own discretion. 

 

However, most guides always kept at least one or two cameras running as a precaution against emergencies.

 

For Jin—who was still a minor and under protection—turning off the CCTV power was not permitted.

 

Jin knew that Simon was currently monitoring the situation inside the guiding room, and that fact brought her considerable relief.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

Sitting across from each other with the transparent barrier between them, Jin and Ruern spent a long time silently sizing one another up.

 

As if looking away first would mean losing some kind of game, Jin was staring with all the strength he could muster into his eyes.